We GREW up with Food Rules, Guilt and Shame. Our kids don’t have to. – ryan

Diet Culture is Everywhere, Often Putting People in A Perpetual Cycle of Restricting what they have to try to Lose Weight, then indulging after feeling depressed, followed by heaps of guilt and shame. Whether Parents Realize it or Not, Those Intenalized Messages MANY OF US PICKED UP CHICKING FAILING UP – from unhealthy food rules to body disatysfaction – can be passed down to our children if we’re not paying attention.

In the fourth episode of their podcast AFTER BEDTime with Big Little Feelings, Big Little Feelings Founders Deena Margolin, A Child Therapist Specialization in Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Kristin Gallant, A Parenting Coach with a Background in Maternal and Child Education, Along With Gallant’s Husband Tyler, Discuss diet culture shaped their appeases and their bodies How Harmful Those Negative Messages Can Be.

For yahoo’s column AFT AFT BEDTESGallant Shares Five Ways Parents Can Help Break the Cycle of Diet Culture and Raise Kids to Have a Healthy Relationship with Food and Their Bodies.

For MANY OF US, FOOD WASN’T JUST FOOD – IT WAS RULES, GUILT, RESTRICTION AND CONFUSION.

Maybe You Gray Up Watching Your Parents do Slimfast or Jenny Craig, Talk About “Cheat Days” or Cut Carbs before Vacation.

Maybe you were to make to finish your plate, and then told to “watch your attitude” in the suame breath.

Maybe you live in a house where all the “FUN FOOD” was off limits, so you snuck it are you canting, eating in secre.

Or Maybe, Like So Many, You Absorbed The Quiet, Relevance Message: Your Body Isn’t Good Enough Unless Smaller.

For Deena, this tourned into an eating disorder. For Kristin, it meant years of Hating Her Bigger Body. For Tyler, it was the shame of sneaking “forbidden” Foods at Friends’ Houses.

Diet Culture was the air we breathed. And now, we’re trying to raise kids in clean air. But how do you undo decades of conditioning while parenting in real time? Here are Five Concrete Steps you can take.

Step 1: Get Clear on the Legacy You don’t Want To Pass Down

We were handed a script: be smaller. Eat less. Look “Good.” Don’t take up too space. TODAY, WE’RE WRITING A NEW ONE.

We have want kids to have a relationship with food that is gounded in Trust, Joy and Respect. We have been saying to the Move their bodies Becauses it feeds good, not to work. We want to know, deep in their bones, that all bodies are goodies. That Starts by Recognizing How We Were Shaped, SO we Can Choose Something Different.

Step 2: Ditch the Shame, Keep the Structure

You don’t have to sue nutrition to break up with diet culture. You Can Serve a Variety of Foods With Labeling “Good” or “Bad.” You can offfer structure, like mealtimes and cues that the kitchen is closing, without control or scarcity.

You can Also Teach Kids How Different Foods Help I FEEL ENERGIZED, FOCUSED AND STROND – WITHOUT TYING WORTH TO WHAT’S ON THEIR PLATE.

This isn’t about “Perfection.” Its About Custency, Balance and A Safe Emotional Environment Around Food.

Step 3: Make Food About Fueling Your Body

We have come our kids to feed Confident Around Food. Swimming obsessive or ashamed. Just… Free. That means:

  • Talking About Food as Fuel. Which Foods Help Us Feel Strong, Full and Focused?

  • Letting Food Be Fun Syometimes, Without Making IT Special OR off-Limits.

  • Keeping Food neutral. Food isn’t a Reward. Its Also Not a Punishment or A Bribe. Its Just Food. Wen the pressure is off, Kids Learn to List to their bodies and Trust I say.

Step 4: Move to Create Joy, Not To Make YourSelf Smaller

Let’s Teach Our Kids That Movement Isn’t About “Burning off” Anyding. IT’S ABOUT STARTING HOME TO YOUR BODY AND FEELING ALIVE IN IT. SO RUN BECAUS IT CLEARS YOUR MIND. Dance Because IT’S FUN. Stretch Because Your Body Deserves Care.

That shift? Its Powerful. It tells our kids: “Your body isn’t a project. It ‘s gift.”

Step 5: Make Body Acceptance The Norm in Your Home

Here’s what we know: body image isn’t shped by what your Kids Hear; Its ALSO SHAPED BY WHAT THEY SEE. Be they see us treating our bodies with Respect – Feeding say, Moving, Resting say – They Learn to the Same. When they see us existting in photos, wearing the swimsuit, eating the cake, being present… They learn that Worthiness isn’t conditional.

Let’s Build Homes Where All Bodies Belong. Where the goal isn’t thinness – the it”s wholeness.